Confirmed: Oligarch removed from EU sanctions list
Confirmed: Oligarch removed from EU sanctions list
TT
Published 2026-09-22 18:15 | Updated 2026-09-22 19:08
Russian President Vladimir Putin and oligarch Alisher Usmanov at a meeting in Moscow in 2017. File photo. Photo: Alexei Druzhinin/Sputnik/AP/TT
Russian-Uzbek oligarch Alisher Usmanov is being removed from the EU sanctions list targeting Russia. Notorious oligarch Mikhail Fridman is also being removed as part of a compromise solution.
Three countries succeeded in pushing through their demands to remove the oligarchs from the EU sanctions against Russia as a condition for greenlighting the proposal, which has finally been approved.
At an extraordinary meeting, EU ambassadors agreed to extend sanctions against the more than 3,000 other individuals accused of activities supporting the Russian war and the occupation of parts of Ukraine.
"The decision to remove specific individuals from the sanctions was adopted," a spokesperson for the Irish EU presidency stated, according to the news agency AFP.
"The compromise entails extending the sanctions for 36 months, until September 22, 2029."
Latvia abstained
According to sources speaking to AFP and the news site Politico, Latvia abstained from voting, allowing the agreement to be finalized.
Several Baltic and Nordic countries reportedly opposed the demands made by France, Slovakia, and Luxembourg regarding Usmanov and Fridman, arguing that such moves could prompt other nations to seek further relief; this concern led the EU to extend the sanctions period, which previously ran on a six-month cycle. Luxembourg reportedly sought to have Fridman removed after he sued the country for billions over the sanctions imposed on him. According to an EU diplomat who spoke to AFP, the country’s move to remove him from the list sends "signals that one can escape sanctions through blackmail."
Ukraine: Moscow celebrates
Ukraine has reacted to the removal of the two individuals, calling the decision "shameful and unjustifiable."
"Moscow is celebrating because they got what they wanted: a sense of security, the humiliation of the EU, and a divided Europe," Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha wrote on X.
"But there is a way to spoil Moscow's celebration. I urge all EU countries to announce their own national sanctions against these two individuals," he continued.
The EU sanctions in question expired last week, but the bloc extended the deadline by a week to discuss the case, primarily concerning Usmanov.
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